Grant Thornton’s "The Financial Services Insider" is a Quarterly Newsletter designed to help you navigate the constantly changing regulatory landscape within which your business operates.
"The Financial Services Insider" covers the main regulatory developments in the Financial Services sector, published by the EU and Greek competent authorities the previous quarter, in order to help you remain up-to-date with the most significant regulatory updates affecting your organization.
The most important highlights of the 4th quarter of 2020
Fourth quarter οf 2020 saw a lot of important developments on a variety of issues in the area of Anti-Money Laundering, Fintech, ESG, Capital Market, Risk Management, while at the same time regulators continued to manage the challenges from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
An updated list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes was released by the European Union and an Implementing Regulation was published with regards to procedures and forms for the exchange of information between various authorities with ESMA. The FATF encouraged countries and jurisdictions to continue to make efforts to implement the FATF Recommendations to a high standard despite the current challenging climate.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
The ECB published its final and amended guide on climate-related and environmental risks and a report on institutions’ climate-related and environmental risk disclosures. The EIOPA published a sensitivity analysis of climate-related transition risks in the investment portfolios of European insurers.
FinTech
The issuance of digital euro is one of the most important developments in the area of Fintech. Further details regarding its use will be provided from the ECB the following months. A new EU Cybersecurity Strategy was published allowing the EU to strengthen its cooperation with partners around the world to promote global, open stable and secure cyberspace.
Risk Management
The Financial Stability Board published a report on the use of supervisory and regulatory technology by FSB members and regulated institutions. The EBA published its annual work programme for 2021 and proceeded to various publications, among others, (i) a Report on significant risk transfer (SRT) in securitization transactions, and (ii) the final methodology for the 2021 EU-wide stress test.
Capital Markets
The Financial Stability Board published a roadmap to enhance cross-border payments in order to address the key challenges often faced by cross-border payments and the frictions in existing processes. ESMA published its first report in regard to the use of sanctions under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”). The EBA published in December its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the contractual recognition of stay powers.
For more information contact us: RiskandRegulatory@gr.gt.com
